Switching Tracks?

The Railway Minister may have been persuaded to withdraw his resignation, but it remains to be seen how long he will continue hitching his wagon to the BJP. A deep throat informs that closer to the general elections, Nitish could desert the NDA and explore other options, including a possible tie-up with the Bihar Chief Minister despite the bad blood between the two longstanding rivals. It will be interesting to observe whether Laloo’s men are muted in their attacks against Nitish personally during the debates on railway safety in the forthcoming Parliament session.

Insecure Status

FORMER Maharashtra Governor P.C. Alexander claimed that he needed to retain his police guards because of a threat from the LTTE and the Shiv Sena. The Delhi Police explained apologetically that the guidelines stipulate that former governors are entitled to state protection for only six months after they demit office, unless the IB perceives a real threat.

While assuring the octogenarian retired bureaucrat that he was not the target of any militant group, the police provided a list of private security agencies he could hire. Alexander has now decided to pay for his guards as have some other former governors, bureaucrats and politicians who have been deprived of official protection. It is a moot point whether it is more about status or security.

Hospital Bulletin

A TV CHANNEL flashed the news that DMK central minister Murasoli Maran had passed away. It later retracted. The hospital in Houston where Maran has been kept for the last nine months has informed the Indian embassy in Washington that the patient is not responding to treatment and there is no activity in his brain and vital organs.

Since he is being kept alive on a ventilator, it was suggested tactfully that the patient be taken back to India as the room was required for other American patients. Hospital bills have reportedly mounted to Rs 16 crore by now. Prime Minister Vajpayee has conveyed the hospital’s diagnosis to DMK chief M. Karunanidhi who is Maran’s uncle. He in turn alerted Maran’s son Kalanidhi Maran who has left for the USA.

Dead Loss Channel

PRASAR BHARATI proposed that Doordarshan open a new news channel from December 31, but the Information and Broadcasting Ministry was so enthusiastic about the idea that it wants the date advanced to September 15.

With elections likely by early next year, the ruling party needs a news channel which will do its bidding, even if the Finance Ministry has grave reservations about the scheme’s financial viability. The last DD satellite news channel was wound up more than a year back. It had a negligible viewership but blew up Rs 106 crore over a two-year period.

The new news channel will be a far bigger drain on the exchequer since rather than a satellite channel, this time DD plans to convert its popular terrestrial metro channel into a news channel. At present, the entertainment centric metro channels earn an annual profit of Rs 25 crores and have a potential for generating a much larger revenue.

For instance, Kerry Packer’s Channel 9 had leased four hours of the channel’s prime time daily for Rs 121 crore annually.

An audit of the expenses of DD’s news wing would no doubt open up a Pandora’s box, but for some reason the CAG has mysteriously refrained from doing so during the last five years. Will Somnath Chatterjee, who heads the parliamentary standing committee on information technology, please take note.

Market Rumours

A RECENTLY empanelled secretary to the GOI learnt of his new posting through a friend who got advance information of secretarial appointments in the offing at a Xerox shop in Delhi’s Khan market. A man, presumably working as a liaison officer for some business house, was openly getting copies made of the supposedly confidential document listing the placements of the 1969 batch of IAS officers.

Jaswant’s Roadblock

FLOATING Murli Manohar Joshi’s name as a potential finance minister seems to be a red herring. Apart from the fact that Joshi’s swadeshi hardline would put an end to the government’s liberalisation policy, DPM L.K. Advani would put his foot down firmly on any such proposal.

In any case, it is difficult to move Jaswant out of North Block and back to the Foreign Office, which many consider his natural habitat. The stumbling block to Singh’s return is Brajesh Mishra, the Principal Secretary to the PM, who has been running the Foreign Office very competently in Singh’s absence. Mishra, for instance, was the man behind the PM’s successful China trip. In Beijing, he was the key figure during the negotiations while MEA Minister Yashwant Sinha took a back seat.